Okidokey… I have read some books on the Harrier (the UK Harriers) in the Falkland war and one of the main reasons for not performing a vertical take off is fuel. But it is possible with tanks and Sidewinders to do so. They did perform vertical take offs from the container cargo ship Atlantic Conveyor (later sunk bei an Exocet missile from the Argentinian Super Etendards) while transfering to the Falklands, but had to get inflight fuel after perfoming the vertical take off. the ski jump on Hermes and Invincible enabled them an easier, low using fuel take off with fuel weapon arsenal. Bear in mind that these were early Sea Harriers FRS1 and Harrier GR.3. The US Marines started with using second-generations AV-8B Harriers II with a much improved Pegasus 15 engine with 4 weapons hard points plus 2 for tanks. They could easily perform take offs from carriers without sky jumps.
Ahnold was able to lift off by bouncing one off of a police car…
Lmao…… and he’s a big guy. Don’t know how he fit in that plane lol.
i see the Ukrainians are calling back some of their helicopters from African peace keeping missions
Yes. They Ukrainians are pulling their forces out of UN peacekeeping ops. Now the trick is to get them back home and into action.
i dunno why the Americans don’t just leave those migs at the same airbase those helicopters are at and walk away and let “nature” take it’s course
The Polish Migs are in Poland I think, Poland wants them to “disappear” from a NATO base instead of a Polish airfield …
Poland also wants the US to replace those MIGs with American F-16s. That whole ‘don’t provoke WWIII’ thing is preventing that from happening.
Personally, I think Poland wants some public reassurance that NATO and especially the USA will actually stand by her.
Given the current level of world class buffonery that’s passed off as a government in Washington D.C., if I were Poland, I’d want some real reassure as well before handing off Mig’s to Ukraine.
I wonder if Poland 
took the idea public after the US GubberMent privately nixed the idea.
last i heard, the Polish Migs were at Ramstein AFB Germany.
i think the Hungarians and Czechs were also donating Migs, hopefully this was done quietly and are now in Ukraine.
There’s one point you may not have considered about the PoAF MiGs yet. The majority of them are original NVA (East Germany not North Vietnam … 
) material, which makes Germany the original owner of these MiGs. So Germany has to give Poland the permission to give these aircraft to the Ukraine. I don’t think that will happen. It’s the same dilemma like with the old NVA cannons, that Estonia got from Finland and Finland got them from Germany.
And please keep in mind that these MiG 29 are more or less the first batch, so they are over 30 years old and would be no real match against the most modern russian MiGs or Suchois, even it they are upgraded to modern NATO standards. It’s like flying an early F-16 against an F-16 from the latest batch …
Why don’t the Americans let the MiGs just blend in with the Hinds & Hips? Because this circus is being run by the same clowns who brought us the Afghanistan bug out. The problem of getting those Ukrainian helicopters back into Ukraine will be the same. Even if they arrive in a neighboring nation, someone in charge will be afraid that introducing them to the combat zone will be a provocative escalation to Dear Leader Comrade Vlad.
@BlackWidow, As to the usefulness of the older Mig-29s? They could fly interdiction missions on the Russian supply lines. They do not need to be flying in the air to air role. And if they are intercepted, they have a better chance in air to air against any Russian fighters than the Su-25s flying air to ground now.
Can they carry air-to-ground weaponry?
Yes, the Mig 29 can carry bombs & rockets in the air to ground role. No smart ordnance capabilities. Also to note is that Mig-29s in NATO country air forces had them upgraded to make them up to NATO operability standards. So they are not exactly the 1989 showroom floor model any longer. At the least the ones that were kept in service.
Poland wants more F16’s (I would too)! They got a place full of them in Arizona, but by the time everybody jumps thru the hoops and they are brought up to combat condition; this little fiasco may be over. What Poland really needs is about 24 A10’s. That alone would send a chill down Putin’s neck, and may even cause him to change his shorts.
Another issue that is looming is lack of good logistics. They are currently scrounging thru wrecks grabbing ammo and whatever they can use. NATO doesn’t use the same rounds, so that presents a problem. Both side don’t exactly have a good supply of fuel, and we already see that looming in the horizon. I think the light infantry phase is a couple weeks out, and nobody wants to go into that room. That’s when your going house to house and room to room. After 24 hours your neck will start hurting from constantly looking over your shoulder. If the actually level Kiev, then it will be pile after pile of rubble your fighting for. Tanks will not have much of a role in this stuff, and if the Ukrainians have their minds in the right place the tanks will be piled up like garbage in New York City. This is the time when somebody needs to send basic high powered varmint rifles chambered in 7.62x51. Don’t need high powered optics, and a simple 3.5x-10x is way over the top. Most shots will be well under 350 meters. Constantly make Ivan look over his shoulder, and you’ll take away his sought after victory. Snipers don’t really kill enough people to even slightly matter, but they mess with your thought process. A few hundred shot guns will also help you a lot. Nobody wants to meet up with a good load of buckshot in the Adams Apple!
gary
The former Warsaw Pact members of NATO most likely have stocks of ammo on hand that is compatible with what the Ukrainians use. Some still have their T-72s,AKs, and other such weapons in mainstream use.
ahem, no they don’t. Germany sold them to Poland and Poland is the rightful owner of these MIG-29 and they could do whatever they wish - but of course as a NATO country, I don’t think they will give’em directly to the Ukraine. anyway… any new planes for Ukraine will not change the war unfortunately.
Actualy no. I have not seen old ammo in ages, everything is produced on demand. And asfar as equipment goes, what was not needed was sold off decades ago. What is left is either urgently needed for own defence, or rotten beyond repair.